TimWoolery.net Documenting the Journey and the Learning Curve

#71 – Subtlety

"The difference between stupid and intelligent people--and this is true whether or not they are well-educated--is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations--in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward."

- Neal Stephenson

As I grow older, I notice a marked difference in what I consider humor as opposed to the general public. As I gathered with friends at a mountain cabin last weekend, a movie was plugged in featuring Steve Martin in yet another easily avoidable situation. I was unable to give the movie my full attention because at the start of the movie, before the credits rolled and heck, even before they finished showing the 10 minutes of previews at the start of the VHS tape, I already knew what was going to happen. Steve was going to find himself at the start a slightly stuffy professional type thrown into a situation where he's reacting to these situations and problems, each more zany than the rest. I guess I wouldn't care necessarily but the fact that he's repackaging some really great old movies into his Easily-Avoidable-Improbable-Situation (EAIS) formula and killing whatever charm it had to begin with?well, I find that a little annoying. I'd mention the movie title but it's not relevant and pointing out examples of what I'm talking about is a bit self-serving.

But still, I think the general difference between the average consumers taste in humor and mine is the general level of subtlety of delivery. Stuff like The Daily Show, Space Ghost, Steve Martin movies directed by Frank Oz?these things mean more to me on the humor scale because of the individual chunks of humor they bring to the table. Jon Stewart riffing on some current event, goofing on it though the cunning use of his screen graphics or co-hosts, it provides a level of satire that just transcends the more obvious setup-joke-laugh-repeat formula that you find on the big network sitcoms. The producers of Space Ghost have latched onto this, creating a stream-of-consciousness type of delivery akin to what you found on the Larry Sanders show. Not to start creating a review of all the things I think are great and why they're great; just trying to make the point that I do like certain things and I've made it a point to figure out why I like them so that when people hear me audibly complaining about having to sit through Steve Martin Easily Avoidable and Improbable Situation Comedy #31 I can explain myself articulately. It certainly beats the days where I'd toss beer mugs at the screen.

I like it when the comedy is a little less obvious ? when it's able to engage the humor lobe of your brain while not completely alienating whatever smarts you've brought along with you. I can't turn my brain off when experiencing something, which probably explains my love-hate relationship with pop movies, TV shows and the culture in general. It seems like the general mood of entertainment (at least the stuff I see) is based upon the need to stop thinking when watching something. Or maybe it's not even thinking, maybe it's just the reptilian side of your brain that knows the difference between what's real and what's not. Reality TV, as I've said before, is an oxymoron. But it's not something I enjoy for that reason ? it's not real. It's the TV equivalent of a 5th grade school play. It's impossibly to completely lose yourself in the play when you can see that the bad guys are kids in costumes made out of cardboard and paper-mache painted with green Prang tempera paint. You can see where the logic and the reality end because it's usually just off camera. Even if you can't see it, you know the ones in front of the camera can and they react to that lack of reality.

So, to counteract that you've got these shows where the people are locked into unsubtle characters that behave and act just as clunky as people in those fake sumo suits. There's no subtlety and therefore because I know is about those subtle situations and the humor/irony therein, there's this part of my brain that just refuses to accept it. I can accept it but only in controlled situations like old Marx Brothers movies. Even watching reruns of the Three Stooges or Abbot and Costello I get bored. I was watching them and finding them funny when I was six, now I watch 'em and the laughs are a little forced: "Ha???.(strained)HA!" Marx Brothers movies have this appeal in that Groucho's rapid-fire jokes to Margaret Dumot's straight/embarrassed expression plus Chico's comedy-that-appears-unintentional to Harpo's whimsical innocence. Genius, just plain comic genius. Guys like the Marx Brothers went the way of the dodo after Vaudeville died but maybe there'll be a place for them again.

Back to subtlety ? maybe it's the stress on the average person that drives them to look at something where they aren't constantly having to make all the difficult decisions that living in a subtle world requires. Maybe at some point it's comforting to not be required to make a judgment call or a decision. That's okay ? I can understand that ? my question at that point would be, is there any way for us to find a happy medium? I like movies that were considered popular a few decades ago for the simple reason that the jokes weren't as in-your-face. "The Odd Couple" springs to mind, so does "Love Crazy" ? a William Powell/Myrna Loy vehicle that wasn't part of "The Thin Man" series. Seems like the overall trend is to continually get less and less intelligent over time; A sort of cultural entropy, if you will.

For now, I'm going to plug in some old flick and watch it for the twenty minutes that I can make myself sit still.

- Tim Woolery, 12/02/04